East Village tenants speak out against rollbacks to potential rent-stabilization laws

On Sunday, a united front of East Village residents and activists gathered to voice their opposition against proposed changes to rent stabilization, currently under consideration during budget negotiations in Albany. 

The rally took place outside 256 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, a building owned by Mark Scharfman. 

Scharfman, who owns nearly 150 properties, has been on the Public Advocate's Worst Landlord List, coming in at number 44 in 2021 and number 28 in 2020. At No. 256, he has reportedly been taking tenants to court for eviction for withholding rent during a sewage leak. 

Residents argued that the harassment and neglect they face today would get worse if landlords regained incentives to push tenants out so that they could raise rent-stabilized rents. 

"We are already facing harassment from greedy landlords who refuse to make repairs and then try to evict us when we stand up for ourselves," said 256 tenant Irene Metaxatos. "Albany leaders should reject out of hand any changes to the rent stabilization law that would recreate the system rife with harassment and fraud that drove so many of my neighbors out of the building in the past." 

Here's more background via the Cooper Square Committee:

Lawmakers are reportedly considering proposed increases to the cap on how much Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) can be passed on to tenants in the form of rent hikes. A chart of how changes to the cap would impact rents is available here. 

Prior to 2019, IAIs were a driver of skyrocketing rents in rent-stabilized apartments and gave landlords a financial incentive to harass tenants to vacate apartments. Together with other measures like eviction bonuses and Major Capital Improvements, thousands of rent-stabilized units were deregulated. 

After decades of organizing, the tenant movement dramatically strengthened New York State’s rent stabilization law in 2019, limiting IAIs to a cap of $15,000, which translates to a monthly rent increase of approximately $89 a month.

On Friday, City & State reported that 21 elected officials in NYC wrote a letter "demanding that state leaders not rollback any part of the 2019 rent stabilization laws in any housing deal included as part of the budget."

Signees included city Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and 19 Council members — including nearly every member of the Council's Progressive Caucus. 

These East Village tenants held a dance party to call out their landlord's sewage treatment

This past Tuesday, East Village residents and their supporters gathered outside 256 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue to call on their landlord for safe building conditions. 

The newly formed EV Scharfman Coalition, along with the Cooper Square Committee, was behind this "Scharfman, Cut The Sh*t!" Dance Party. NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and Assembly Member Harvey Epstein also spoke on behalf of the tenants.

Some background, per Cooper Square officials: 

Tenants of landlord Mark Scharfman are calling on their landlord to meet with them as they've requested, stop taking tenants to court for legally withholding rent during sewage flooding, treat them respectfully, and provide safe, sanitary living conditions. 

After three rounds of sewage flooding in one East Village building and similar issues in another building, several responses from the fire department, and requests for repairs and maintenance unanswered or seriously delayed, tenants have banded together to bring attention to the terrible conditions they've lived through as well as their experiences with their landlord and management company as some now face housing court because they legally withheld rent for unlivable conditions. 

Mark Scharfman, the owner of the buildings and a landlord associated with close to 150 buildings in NYC, many of which are managed under his Beach Lane Property Management Company, has been accused of tax fraud by multiple organizations, serious maltreatment of tenants, and more for years. In addition, Scharfman has been on the Public Advocate's Worst Landlord List, coming in at number 44 in 2021 and number 28 in 2020.

"The conditions that these tenants have suffered through, including fecal matter entering into their apartments, is beyond the pale," said Cooper Square Committee organizer Illapa Sairitupac. "Scharfman has an obligation to listen to his tenants and keep his buildings in good repair at the very minimum. We demand he take them seriously."

 

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